Friday Favorite: Strawberry Shortcake
We picked our first strawberry last week and have been enjoying strawberry shortcake for dinner ever since. Strawberry shortcake at Chiot’s Run is a little different than most. The first time I made it for Mr Chiots he said, “What is this?” No little round spongy cakes or loads of sugar here.
When you grow you own strawberries they’re so much better than what you get at the store, you don’t want to overpower them with too much sugar. I make homemade shortcake with real butter, whole grain flour, crystallized ginger and just a small amount of sugar. This lets the sweetness and flavor of homegrown sun ripened strawberries be the star of the meal. The shortcakes are cooked until crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. When cooled we crumble them in a bowl, top with strawberries macerated with maple syrup and a dash of vanilla. Then we top it all off with some raw milk.
STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
1 1/2 quarts of strawberries
2 Tablespoons of maple syrup
a dash of vanilla and salt
Slice strawberries and mix with maple syrup, and a dash of vanilla and salt. Put in fridge to macerate.
2 cups of flour
(I use 10 oz of freshly ground soft white wheat flour)
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
1 Tablespoon of baking powder
(I use 2 t of cream of tartar and 1 t aluminum free baking soda)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup diced crystallized ginger*
1/2 – 3/4 cup of heavy cream or buttermilk
1 Tablespoon of sugar
*If you don’t like ginger, you can add lemon zest and some lemon juice, or perhaps cinnamon and vanilla.
Preheat oven to 425, butter a baking sheet or line with parchment paper (you can also use a cast iron skillet if you’d like).
Sift flour into a large bowl and mix in baking powder and salt (if you want sweeter shortcake add 1-2 Tablespoons of sugar). Cut butter into pieces and work into the flour mixture with pastry blender, knives or fingers until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir crystallized ginger into flour mixture.
Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in half a cup of cream or buttermilk. Stir lightly, if mixture is too dry, add the rest of the buttermilk or cream. You want the mixture to be like biscuit or scone dough, not too wet and not too dry. Spread or drop onto cookie sheet and sprinkle lightly with sugar. I make mine in one big piece but you could easily make individual ones if you’d like. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
When shortcakes are cool, crumble into a bowl, top with macerated strawberries, pour cold milk on top. Enjoy. (makes about 6 servings unless you’re really hungry)
When made this way, it’s the perfect light dinner on a hot summer day. With all that whole grain, fresh fruit, pastured butter and raw milk I don’t feel a bit guilty about eating it every night for dinner during short strawberry season!
What kind of strawberry shortcake do you enjoy in your household?
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Tiny Toads
I’ve been watching the pond daily and keeping track of the growth of the toad poles. There are hundreds if not thousands in there. There may be some frogs as well, I haven’t been able to tell yet if any of the tadpoles are frogs. It truly is amazing how a small 70 gallon pond will increase the biodiversity in your garden and capture your interest as well.
I’ve been watching these little guys since they were about the size of a grain of rice. Now they’re the size of a very large pea. About a week ago I noticed that they started getting legs and yesterday I noticed a few of them had started to lose their tails and were crawling out of the water.
Soon my garden will be overrun with tiny toads. Many of them will become food for birds but a few will survive to wage war on the slugs and other insects in the garden.
Any interesting thing in your garden you’re keeping an eye on? rabbit or bird nest? insect eggs?
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Edible Garden Update
Last Friday I was able to head over to my mom’s and work in the garden that we share. With all the rain we’ve been having and being super busy I haven’t been able to get over much in the last month. I planted the tomatoes and peppers that I started from seed. I also reseeded the beets that got washed away in the huge rain storm. Beet varieties we’re growing:
‘Detroit Dark Red’ Beet – 55 days. The most popular, old standard, all-purpose, red beet with uniform and smooth, blood-red flesh that is sweet and tasty. 14-inch tops make good greens. Heirloom variety introduced in 1892 (source: Bake Creek) These are my mom’s favorite, they make a mean pickled beet!
‘Formonova’ or Cylinder Beet – 55 days. A wonderful Heirloom from Denmark, this one is famous for slicing with its long, cylindrical roots. Produces much more uniform slices than round beets.This tender and sweet variety is also known as “Butter Slicer” because of its wonderful texture. (source: Baker Creek)
‘Golden’ Beet – 55 days. This variety dates back to the 1820’s or before. The beets are a rich, golden-yellow and very sweet. A beautiful beet that won’t bleed like red beets. The greens are also very tasty. A favorite of many. (source: Renee’s Garden)
This year we expanded the garden and added a new gate. It sure is nice to have a proper gate! Right inside the gate we put bean towers that will have morning glories growing on them. Along the front edge of the garden we’re planting flowers to attract beneficial insects and to add some beauty.
Yesterday we were back over to take my dad to the airport and I was able to finally get the popcorn planted, just before a big rainstorm hit (hence the overcast skies in these photos). I’ve grown ‘Strawberry’ Popcorn in the past and it was really great, but this I decided to grow:
‘Pennsylvania Butter’ Popcorn – 102 days. Flavor is superior to commercial popcorn. [Pre-1885 heirloom popcorn maintained by the Pennsylvania Dutch. Introduced in 1988 by SESE.] Produces white-kerneled ears, averaging 2 per 8 foot stalk. Ears contain 26 to 28 rows of kernels, length ranges from 4 to 6 (source: Southern Exposure)
I have just enough space for my sweet corn, which will go in a little later than usual because we’re planning around vacation times. We don’t usually grow sweet corn, but this year I decided to give it a try. A row of sunflowers will go in between the two kinds of corn as well.
Everything was looking good yesterday. The potatoes and peas that we planted a few months ago are blooming (you can see what varieties and the garden plan here). The broccoli and cauliflower that were planted a couple weeks ago are growing beautifully and the onions are also sizing up nicely.
Just as I finished taking these photos the rain moved in and watered the garden nicely. So far it looks like the 2011 gardening season will be a productive one, filling our plates and pantries with delicious homegrown food.
How’s your garden doing? Anything doing worse/better than usual? What have you been planting this week?
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Making Your Own Whole Grain Mustard
I posted my recipe for Whole Grain Stout Mustard on the Your Day blog at Ethel so head on over there. If you remember I talked about my love of condiments one Friday. Of all the condiments mustard is my favorite. I love a good hearty whole grain mustard, but they can be pricey in the store. Making your own is quick and easy.
I get my organic mustard seeds from Mountain Rose Herbs in case you’re wondering, they’re inexpensive and you can buy in bulk. People will certainly be impressed when you take homemade mustard to the next cookout you attend.
Head on over to the Ethel Blog and tell me what your favorite condiment is.
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A Day to Recharge
As an introvert, being around a lot of people wears me out both physically and emotionally. One of the reasons I really enjoy gardening is because it’s a great way for me to get some quiet time alone to recharge. After a busy week last week with lots of trips out and about, I was sorely in need of some quiet time. Mr Chiots was heading out for the day to cheer on some friends that were running a race, so luckily I had a day to myself. I thought about working in the garden, but I had been doing a lot of that all week and needed a bit of a rest day out of the sun.
I checked We Took to the Woods out of the library a few weeks ago and haven’t been able to find any measurable amount of time to sit down and get through more than 10 pages at once. I decided to make the most of my day by spending it sitting on the front porch in my little folding chair finishing up the book. There’s nothing like a good book and a few hours of uninterrupted reading to restore the soul. Now I’m ready to take on the week!
What’s your favorite way to recharge?
